Car boot crochet

Big Girl, my sister and I went on our weekly hunt around the local car boot on Saturday. It was really busy this time, and I was quite pleased with my finds. One lady had a whole pile of cross stitch kits spread out on the floor. I so wish there had been more that I liked, as they were a bargain. I got all these for just £6, a great price as the horse one alone had a ticket price of £19.50!

I know, I have too much on my 'to do' list already without these before anyone says anything, but at that price how could I say no? The other thing I considered was what would I do with them all when I'd finished them, but I'm looking at them just as a form of entertainment on a cold winters evening when I want something to do. I may try to incorporate some into a bag or a cushion, it depends how adventurous I'm feeling. Anyone got any ideas what to do with them when they are finished?

I also got this felt kit to make a Christmas stocking. I thought it was a bit too adventurous but Big Girl wanted to make it for herself (obviously minus the name on the top!), so who am I to curb her creative interest? It only cost £2. 

I got one more thing for me which I love. It's a Martin Wiscombe print, and was the bargain price of 50p. I think I will frame it and it will go in my craft room. 

So that's my finds for this week, roll on next weekend! Have a good weekend, whatever you are doing.  The beginning of a looooong summer holiday 😫

Xxxx

Attic finished!

A few weekends ago we ordered the flooring to board out the attic. The delivery driver was great, as when I asked him to get it as close to the house as possible be quite literally did! Unfortunately OH and I then had forty sheets of flooring to carry upstairs, then up the ladder into the loft 😓. I don't know if you have spent much time in your attic, but whatever temperature it is outside, times it by two when you get up there, it was sweaty, horrible work. I just had to imagine the end result to keep me going. It's a huge area, and the usable size basically gives us a third floor. 

The photos below are work in progress. OH took out all the insulation and put in timber to raise the height of the floor. If we hadn't raised it we wouldn't have been able to get all the insulation under the new flooring. 

And here's the after. Woohoo - loads of room for all the boxes we haven't yet unpacked, seasonal things (xmas decorations, Easter bits and pieces etc), presents. We also have empty boxes for things we want to keep. We've moved quite a few times, and it's been so handy keeping things like original computer boxes. They have all the moulded packing bits inside that pretty much guarantee it gets there in one piece. It's also handy to keep boxes from toys as you get a better price if you sell them in their original packaging. 

It's a bit of a pain having to climb over the timbers going across, but once the structural engineer has had a look we are hoping we can take them out. We've never had an attic where you can actually stand up full height before and it's a great usable space. 

You may notice in the background of the photo below some toys. We have kept one part of the attic separate, and it's going to be for playing with scalextric or whatever else OH and the little people want to set up. It's ideal as they can set it up and not have to tidy it away at the end of the day like they've had to when playing with it in the lounge. I was a little bit worried though about Little Boy not paying attention where he was going, and disappearing down the loft hatch. I asked OH if he could make some sort of rail around it to make it safer but he came up with something better. He's fixed three sheets of board into a u-shape that slides around the hatch. It's heavy enough to make it child safe, but also means when we need more access to get some thing bigger up/down we just slide it back out of the way. He's clever my hubby!

Only problem now is Little Boy keeps wanting to play up in the attic. The hot weather we've been having at the moment means there is no way I'm cooking up there I'm afraid. I think a velux window would be a good idea, but OH doesn't seem so keen (he's probably just thinking of how much it would cost!). 

I've got one more post to do then I'm up to date. Little Boy is off sick today, pain in the bum as I only have two more days of freedom before the school holidays, but can't be helped. So I've been sat on my bum in the lounge all day keeping an eye on him. I popped out to the kitchen briefly before to put the kettle on, and he decided then was the time to be sick. So teddy, pillow case and sheet are now hanging on the line. At least I have time to get up to date on writing my blog, and reading other people's!

Xxxx

Poppy love

I went to the Spring Garden show at the Three Counties a while back (that reminds me I took loads of photos to show you and never got around to it 😐). Anyway, I don't usually buy  plants form these shows as they tend to be overpriced, but I couldn't resist a ladybird poppy...

I was quite happy just with this one, until my sister in law gave me some peony poppy plants. As we are renovating the garden I decided to plant them in a big pot. They grew and grew until one day I came out to this...

Nearly there, what will they look like when they unfurl? 

They would look BeAuTiFuL that's what they'd look like!!

I didn't see any honey bees, but the bumble bees seemed to love them, and disappeared down into the ruffles to get the pollen...

They looked glorious for a few days, but then it got quite windy and they were gone, just a seed head left. The lower leaves looked quite scruffy too, so I think they would be good at the back of a border, to hide their tatty bottoms. So it was a very pretty, but very brief floral display. At least being in a pot I can move it to somewhere out of the way. I will definitely be saving some seeds to sow next year. 

Xx

Garden in June

First of all, welcome to Lil Ashton who is following via Bloglovin'

I was hoping to get my 'garden in June' post done in June, but didn't quite make it. If you've followed from the start you will know that we bought this house back in November. It had been on the market for quite some time, as a deceased estate, and the garden was quite basic. We have big plans for it, involving taking out most of what is here and starting afresh, so for now I am doing most of my planting in pots.
I didn't want to bore you with heaps of flower photos, so I borrowed Big Girl's PhotoCollage app and combined them into a few collections.

I'm really pleased with the fuschia, with its rich purples and pinks, and ruffled skirts. It's amazing what nature designs isn't it...

Every time I step out the back door I expect to find the hosta in shreds, but so far the slugs have kept away and it looks lush...

I just love the bright, colourful stripes of the gazanias, and we have several different colours...

Hope you have enjoyed the mini tour, more to come soon. 

Xxxx